Recently the Fifth International Gay and Lesbian Games took place in Amsterdam. Although for the overwhelming majority of our people this is not only something exotic but rather abnormal and irritating, our land was also represented by Andriy Maimulakhin.
Moreover, he is not from the capital where new trends including those concerning sexual minorities are nevertheless more common and tangible, but from provincial Luhansk.
Q.: Andriy, how did you get into the Gay Games?
A.: I am quite active in the gay movement in Ukraine and edit a specialized magazine, Nash Mir. Thus, I was invited to participate in the games. Nowadays few in Ukraine can afford going abroad to attend such an event, and only owing to a special fund established by the Federation of the Gay Games to finance gay movements in third countries did I get the opportunity to visit Amsterdam. I participated there in a storytelling festival where personal life stories of people from different countries were presented. People told about the obstacles and difficulties they had met on their way to recognition by society.
Q.: As far as I understood, the sport events were not the main goal of the games.
A.: The entire program was based on the sports competitions. However, it also included many various culture events which along with sports helped 15,000 participants from 88 countries to find a common language during the games.
Q.: Concerning the situation with sexual minorities in Ukraine, even abroad where people live much freer than here such people, in order to make their life easier, settle in big cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam because it is possible for them to get lost in the crowd there. And how is life for you in relatively provincial Luhansk?
A.: It depends mostly on the individual and his or her ability to surround him or herself with an atmosphere of tolerance and favor. It was hard for me to come out to my parents and friends and to say that I am gay. Nevertheless, I had the courage to do so. It was hard for the first few years but now the most difficult times are over. I simply tried with my friendly attitude to prove my right to exist being who I am in this world. Indeed, I am different. And nobody knows why I am different. Despite the fact that I love in another way, my feelings are none the worse because of it. Thus, although it is hard, I have managed to remain who I am in Luhansk. It is much harder is to be gay in many smaller Ukrainian towns and villages where social biases are so much stronger. It is there where coming out or, what is much worse, a compulsory “unmasking” can have sad consequences.
Q.: The next Gay Games will be hosted by Sydney in 2002. Do you have enough imagination to ever envision such an event ever taking place in Ukraine?
A.: The Dutch spared no efforts to get the right to hold an event of such a scale and they did not do wrong: the Amsterdam budget alone got $75 billion profit of conducted events let alone the profits of KLM airlines, games’ carrier and sponsor general. Maybe some day but not in the near future such games will also take place in Ukraine. Incidentally, when asked by me what he would say to his Kyiv counterpart regarding the possibility of hosting such an event Amsterdam’s mayor answered that he was primarily a businessman and would not been involved in any undertaking I knew beforehand would be unprofitable.
Q.: What else would you like to tell the reader ?
A.: Ukraine is a big country. And taking into account scientists’ assessments that gays and lesbians make up about 5% of the population, that would equal the whole population of our capital. Our society has declared its intention to become an open society, and that means we have to be open to everybody because all people - white, black, pink, or blue - have a right to live in this world, and they have to live in peace and harmony. I am sure that the worst times for our society are over, and it is mature enough for tolerance.







